Prisoner of War Camp @ Newton Manitoba

Did anyone know there was a World War Two Prisoner of War Camp at Newton, Manitoba? This video highlights a local collectors discovery of an artifact revealing some of the history of this camp. You never know what stories you might uncover, maybe even a message in a bottle.

Directed by William Plenty this short film is part of the half hour show Manitoba Historical Society Presents, currently available on MTS TV Stories from Home video on demand channel.

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I grew up, pretty much half way between them, from what I have been told by the locals, who are all long gone now is, 1) Creekside Campground, originally stared off as a work camp, for I think C.P. Rail, in the late 1800’s, which they used for a sawmill, for the construction of a timber bridge to go across the Assiniboine River. I would think that after the construction was completed it sat abandoned for many years, from what I understand, it wasn’t used during WW1, but when WW2 broke out, the Federal Government, built it up with cabins, detention centres, and put up a perimeter fence around it, calling it Camp Norquay. Apparently, there was guard shacks on both sides of the river, to guard against sabotage of the tracks or the bridge. To my understanding the bridge was in the same place that the east bound lane is for the TransCanada Highway. I was told that no prisoner ever escaped, or even wanted to. The prisoners even worked for local farmers, including my uncle. Once the war was over, the camp was disbanded, and some of the pow’s went back to Germany, and some, who I have no idea of family names, took up residence in the area. After the war, with the economy booming, the area was made into Norquay Beach Provincial Campground, and was kept up till the early 90’s I think. It had a wonderful beach, complete with lifeguards, concession stand, floating rafts, and a huge parking lot. In fact I took my swimming lessons there in the 60’s and 70’s, we used to dive off the walking bridge, and swim to the raft, by the time we got there, we would be covered in leaches( we got pretty good at taking them off). The Province sold them off, and it took a few owners, but now the place is busier than ever, except there is no more swimming in the oxbow lake. T The second camp, still has remains there to this day, there is the office or house and a few cabins there. It’s about half a mile north of Newton, on the east side of the road. The locals never referred to it as a prisoner of war camp, like Camp Norquay, but as an internment camp for local Japanese residents ( which even back in war times the locals thought was unfair ). Many people who occupied this camp ended up settling back in the local area. This information was told to me when I was a kid, from 3 different men, who are all gone now, there may be more exact information in a book somewhere. The three men were, George Ostashuk, Tom Nelson, and Harry Roberts.